Ribadu, others lament postponement of election

Some leading politicians from the North-East on Saturday lamented the postponement of the National Assembly election by the Independent National Electoral Commission. Speaking in separate interviews with the News Agency of Nigeria, they said the development amounted to a sheer waste of the nation’s resources and could dampen the morale of voters. They include the presidential candidate of the Action Congress of Nigeria, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu; the National Publicity Secretary of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, Alhaji Muhammed Sabo; and the Speaker, Bauchi State House of Assembly, Malam Haliru Jika. Ribadu told NAN in Yola that the postponement of the election as ‘sad and tragic’. He said INEC had enough time to prepare for the election but failed. Sabo told NAN in Bauchi that it was unfortunate for INEC to have postponed the election. Sabo, who is also House of Representatives candidate for Bauchi Metropolitan Federal Constituency, described the action as ‘disappointing, embarrassing and strange’. Also speaking, Jika, also said the postponement would affect candidates from opposition parties, who had used their personal resources to fund their campaigns and hire polling agents. The Bauchi State Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Alhaji Al-Amin Sani, described the postponement as ‘sad’, and urged INEC to provide genuine reasons for the decision. The Yobe South ANPP senatorial candidate, Alhaji Alkali Jajere, told NAN that the postponement had eroded the people’s confidence in INEC. He lamented that the huge resources invested in the preparations had not yielded the expected results. By Agency Reporter Courtesy Of: Punch